The present invention relates to a system and method for correcting vision, and more specifically for correcting vision problems resulting from rapid involuntary eye movement such as nystagmus and from eye misalignment (i.e. strabismus).
Medical disorders such as nystagmus and strabismus are serious and potentially disabling afflictions. They involve the rapid, involuntary twitching of one or both of a patient's eyes (nystagmus), or involuntary eye misalignment (strabismus). Such movement or twitching are often caused by involuntary muscular action of the extraocular muscles which are responsible for eye movement. Such involuntary eye movement can occur very rapidly and it often is side to side in the general horizontal plane, although other times may occur with vertical and/or diagonal components. Moreover, such twitching can occur multiple times in rapid succession. Although severity and frequency can vary among patients, the results can include severe degradation of eyesight, loss of balance and motor control and general disorientation.
Such problems are fairly widespread. Some data suggests that approximately one (1) out of ten thousand (10,000) people are born with nystagmus. Moreover, other data suggests that approximately one (1) out of fifteen hundred (1,500) people suffer from nystagmus due to the fact that, in addition to people born with this affliction, other people develop it later in life as a result of accidents or trauma, disease or otherwise.
To date, the glasses and contact lenses, surgical and pharmacological treatments for nystagmus, strabismus, and related ailments are unsatisfactory. Various background is set forth in Cox, Neil, & Rushton, David. (1987), A new optical treatment for oscillopsia, Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry, 50, 411-415; Averbuch-Heller, MD, L, & Leigh, MD, R J. (1997), Medical treatments for abnormal eye movements: Pharmacological, optical and immunological strategies, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Ophthalmology, 25, 7-13; Leung, Vicki; Wick, Bruce, & Bedell, Harold E., (1996) Multifaceted Treatment of Congenital Nystagmus: A Report of 6 Cases. Optometry and Vision Science, 73, No. 2, 114-124; Leigh, MD, R. John; Rushton, MD, David N.; Thurston, MD, Stephen E.; Hertle, MD, Richard W, & Yaniglos, O D, Stacy S., (1988) Effects of retinal image stabilization in acquired nystagmus due to neurologic disease, Neurology, 38, 122-127; and in Leigh, R. John & Yaniglos, Stacy S., (1992) Refinement of an Optical Device that Stabilizes Vision in Patients with Nystagmus, Optometry and Vision Science, 69, No. 6, 447-450. Patients could benefit significantly from the present invention which provides for a system and method for correcting or improving the vision of such patients.